Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

HHS issues regs to reduce red tape for hospitals, providers

The Obama administration moved Tuesday to roll back numerous rules that apply to hospitals and other health care providers after concluding that the standards were obsolete or overly burdensome to the industry. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said the proposed changes, which would apply to more than 6,000 hospitals, would save providers nearly $1.1 billion a year without creating any "consequential risks for patients."

20 Oct 2011

Aggressive Behaviour Risk Assessment Tool can reduce violence in clinical settings

Using a specially designed risk assessment tool within 24 hours of admission was an effective way of identifying which hospital patients in medical and surgical units would become violent. Researchers studied more than 2,000 patients admitted to an acute care hospital over a five-month period. As well as identify the traits that were most likely to lead to violence, they found that a disproportionate number of elderly patients and males became violent.

20 Oct 2011

JAMA study: Heart failure hospitalization rates fall

The rate of hospital admissions for elderly patients in the U.S. fell by nearly 30 percent in the past decade, based on an analysis of Medicare data. This finding, being published today, is viewed as progress against cardiovascular disease and the costs associated with this illness.

20 Oct 2011

Commonwealth Fund: U.S. weak on health care quality, access, affordability

The report concluded that these weaknesses in the American health system are having a "profound effect" on the overall health of the nation's population.

20 Oct 2011

Immdal sells its subsidiary Newport to Ewopharma

Immdal Limited ('Immdal'), a privately held Irish pharmaceutical healthcare group, today announced the sale of its subsidiary Newport Pharmaceuticals Limited ('Newport') to Swiss pharmaceutical company Ewopharma AG.

20 Oct 2011

BUSM, COE receive NIH training grant to examine inflammatory disorders

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the College of Engineering (COE) a five year, $316,875 training grant to examine inflammatory disorders.

20 Oct 2011

UofL, Frazier Rehab to establish Spinal Cord Injury Model System

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education has awarded researchers at Frazier Rehab Institute and the University of Louisville $2.2 million for five years to establish a Spinal Cord Injury Model System.

20 Oct 2011

First Edition: October 19, 2011

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Capsules, Marilyn Werber Serafini reports: "Medicare might fare better than other health care programs if the congressional super committee fails to agree on a deficit-reduction package and automatic cuts kick in, but even 2 percent is a big problem when it comes on top of other recent hits, warn Rick Pollack, executive vice president of the American Hospital Association, and Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans."

19 Oct 2011

CDC: Visits to emergency rooms on the rise

Visits to hospital emergency departments increased to an all-time high of 136 million in 2009, according to new estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

19 Oct 2011

Republicans looking ahead with plans to dismantle health law

GOP activists, who increasingly consider both the Senate and White House to be within reach, are developing multi-pronged strategies to roll-back the health law beginning in 2013.

19 Oct 2011

Women more likely to develop lupus at earlier ages

Debilitating. Destructive. Life-altering. These are just a few words used to describe autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases affect women 8 times more often than men, with lupus being one of the most disruptive. Lupus is a disease that occurs when a person's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs instead of attacking foreign invaders such as common viruses and bacteria. Lupus often results in wide-spread inflammation, pain, swelling and organ/tissue damage throughout the body.

19 Oct 2011

Scott & White to create internships for doctoral psychology students

Scott & White Healthcare in Temple is one of three sites chosen for a $1.6 million initiative to create internships for doctoral psychology students that will help alleviate mental health workforce shortages in Texas.

19 Oct 2011

Donors need to look beyond emergency funding to long-term, strategic solutions

"Americans are among the most generous people in the world, giving more money to charities than citizens of any other nation in the world," but "much of our charity goes to disaster relief," entrepreneur and philanthropist Sheila Johnson writes in an opinion piece in the Huffington Post's "Black Voices."

19 Oct 2011

Confusion reigns after Obama administration suspends CLASS program

Even though the White House signaled that the long-term insurance program will not be implemented, President Barack Obama made clear yesterday that he is opposed to the measure's repeal. Meanwhile, the decision to suspend the plan from going forward has left many experts to ask what's next in the effort to address the nation's long-term care issues.

19 Oct 2011

Roundup: Mass. contemplates 'global payments'; rural hospitals struggling; Oregon liability cost studied

Although important details remain to be negotiated, the legislative leaders and Gov. Deval Patrick, all Democrats, are working toward a plan that would encourage flat "global payments" to networks of providers for keeping patients well, replacing the fee-for-service system that creates incentives for excessive care by paying for each visit and procedure.

19 Oct 2011

RTS,S vaccine reduces risk of severe malaria in African children

First results from a large-scale Phase III trial of RTS,S, published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), show the malaria vaccine candidate to provide young African children with significant protection against clinical and severe malaria with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile.

19 Oct 2011

First results from phase 3 malaria vaccine candidate trial

18 Oct 2011

With clock ticking, super committee weighs suggestions, battles doubts

Last week the deficit-reduction panel received a slew of recommendations from across Capitol Hill on how to tame the nation's deficit problems. The input evidenced partisan differences and intra-party fissures. All the while, questions persist about the committee's ability to actually reach a deal.

18 Oct 2011

Commercialization strategies for next-generation medicines

The Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, in collaboration with Demy-Colton Life Science Advisors, and key opinion leaders from the biotech and biopharmaceutical industries, academia, medical research foundations, and investment community, has organized a two-day event to forge partnerships to accelerate the development of new treatments for some of the world's most devastating diseases affecting millions.

18 Oct 2011

Johnson & Johnson third quarter sales increase 6.8% to $16.0 billion

Johnson & Johnson today announced sales of $16.0 billion for the third quarter of 2011, an increase of 6.8% as compared to the third quarter of 2010. Operational results increased 2.6% and the positive impact of currency was 4.2%. Domestic sales declined 3.7%.

18 Oct 2011